crontab not running php script

Question

crontab was at one point running properly but one day after running it deleted its file in /var/spool/cron/crontabs

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.DYqvRY/crontab installed on Thu Mar 17 14:50:32 2016)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
# Edit this file to introduce tasks to be run by cron.
# 
# Each task to run has to be defined through a single line
# indicating with different fields when the task will be run
# and what command to run for the task
# 
# To define the time you can provide concrete values for
# minute (m), hour (h), day of month (dom), month (mon),
# and day of week (dow) or use '*' in these fields (for 'any').# 
# Notice that tasks will be started based on the cron's system
# daemon's notion of time and timezones.
# 
# Output of the crontab jobs (including errors) is sent through
# email to the user the crontab file belongs to (unless redirected).
# 
# For example, you can run a backup of all your user accounts
# at 5 a.m every week with:
# 0 5 * * 1 tar -zcf /var/backups/home.tgz /home/
# 
# For more information see the manual pages of crontab(5) and cron(8)
# 
# m h  dom mon dow   command

0 0 1 * *  /var/www/html/mail.php

0 0 16 * *  /var/www/html/mail.php

0 13 2 * * /var/www/html/mailcheck.php

0 13 17 * * /var/www/html/mailcheck.php

0 13 2 * * /var/www/html/mailcheckadmin.php

0 13 17 * * /var/www/html/mailcheckadmin.php

0 0 1 * *  /var/www/html/PaymentPeriod_Create.php

0 0 16 * *  /var/www/html/PaymentPeriod_Create.php

* * * * * /var/www/html/testsession.php  > /var/www/html/log

I am using # crontab -e to edit this file then when i'm done I press ^X Y ENTER is there any extra step that i am missing * * * * * /var/www/html/testsession.php > /var/www/html/log this should run every minute right?

This runs every minute: */1 * * * * /var/www/html/testsession.php > /var/www/html/log — Daan
– Daan, Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 15:06
@Daan I changed that line but still the script is not running — Robert Holden
– Robert Holden, Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 15:13
@Daan why */1 * * * * rather than * * * * *? Are they equivalent? I always use * * * * * to run something every minute — jDo
– jDo, Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 15:48

Matt Raines · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-17 15:24:59Z

The syntax * * * * * /var/www/html/testsession.php > /var/www/html/log is valid.

Most likely since it is the final line in the crontab it is missing the newline. Cron requires a newline at the end of every entry; in other words your crontab must finish with an empty line.

From the "Diagnostics" section of man crontab:

cron requires that each entry in a crontab end in a newline character. If the last entry in a crontab is missing the newline, cron will consider the crontab (at least partially) broken and refuse to install it.

You may want to replace the > with a >> so that new content is appended to the log file rather than overwriting it every minute, ie * * * * * /var/www/html/testsession.php >> /var/www/html/log. This will still create the log file if it is not already present.

Your PHP file will also need the execute bit set and will need to start with #!/usr/bin/php (or the path to PHP on your system) on the first line. Alternatively you could replace the cron line with * * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/testsession.php >> /var/www/html/log to explicitly use the PHP interpreter to execute the script.

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